For the time being there will be no more switching to Moscow.
(Photo: imago images/Future Image)
Moscow Because of the tightened media laws in Russia, the Federal Foreign Office advises caution even with other public statements. “Even private statements in social media can be associated with unpredictable personal risks under this new law in the Russian Federation,” said an update of the travel and safety instructions on Saturday. “Extreme restraint or, alternatively, departure is advised.”
The new law, which “enables the arbitrary imposition of long prison sentences for public statements,” has been in force since Saturday, the Foreign Office explains.
According to the laws signed by President Vladimir Putin on Friday night, people face up to 15 years in prison for spreading alleged “misinformation” about the Russian armed forces. Penalties also threaten those who publicly “denigrate” the army.
In response, several international media outlets have suspended all or part of their work in Russia. ARD and ZDF are also suspending reporting from their Moscow studios for the time being.
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The public broadcasters said in a coordinated statement on Saturday: “ARD and ZDF are examining the consequences of the law passed on Friday and are initially suspending reporting from their Moscow studios. From their other locations, the two public broadcasters will continue to inform the audience comprehensively about what is happening in Russia and Ukraine.” Further details were not initially known.
“CNN will stop broadcasting in Russia”
It had previously become known that several international broadcasters and agencies were partially or completely stopping their work in the country. “CNN will stop broadcasting in Russia while we continue to assess the situation and our next steps,” confirmed a spokesman for the US broadcaster on Friday evening (local time) when asked.
Italy’s public broadcaster Rai also drew consequences from the change in the law and stopped the journalistic services of its correspondents in Russia for the time being, as Rai announced on Saturday.
The Spanish state news agency EFE and the renowned newspaper “El País” from Spain will no longer report from Russia until further notice, as they announced on Saturday.
The US news agency Bloomberg had previously announced that it would stop reporting on Russian territory. The British BBC also initially stopped any form of reporting on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Turn independent journalists into criminals
“Bloomberg News will temporarily suspend the work of its journalists in Russia,” the New York-based company said on Friday evening (local time). The change in the law appears to be aimed at making every independent journalist a criminal, said Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait. This makes it impossible “to continue any semblance of normal journalism in the country”.
The BBC announced its decision via Twitter on Friday. “This legislation appears to criminalize the process of independent journalism,” BBC director general Tim Davie was quoted as saying in the tweet. “This leaves us with no option but to halt the work of all BBC News journalists and their staff in the Russian Federation while we investigate the full impact of this undesirable development.”
The BBC Russian language news program will continue to operate outside of Russia. Reporting from Ukraine will also continue.
More: End of “Echo Moscow” exposes Putin – a comment on freedom of the press